Elementary Studio Lesson
a History of neuschwanstein
his school year, my students
We began with a brief background
have been "traveling" the
history of King Ludwig II and his
countries of Europe. With our
castle, Neuschwanstein. Born in 1845,
handmade passports and colKing Ludwig became King of Bavaria
laged paper suitcases, we've thus far
when he was just
ventured to France,
eighteen years old.
the United KingWhen the castles were
dom and, in the
complete, many students He is sometimes
called the "Fairycase of this project,
decided to write fairy tales Tale King" for his
of their own to accompany love of fiction and
On a real visit
the influence it
to Germany, I was
had on the design
of his castle. In 1864, ground for
to tour Neuschwanstein Castle. With
Neuschwanstein Castle was broken.
its mysterious history and fairy-tale
Currently only sixteen rooms out of
architecture, I just knew my students
more than 200 are complete. Each of
would be enthralled. I also thought
these rooms is like its own exquisite
that they just might like to create a
castle of their own.
Knowing the strong connection
between this castle and fairy tales, I
wanted to include these tales in my
castle-building lesson. However, I just
wasn't sure how. So I began digging
into my files of past SchoolArts articles and I discovered a wonderful lesson plan entitled, "Rapunzel's Tower"
by Sheryl Depp (bit.ly/1aLV85J).
In this article, Depp discusses how
she introduced her kindergarten students to the tale of Rapunzel, then had
them create a Rapunzel scene of their
own. Depp does a wonderful job of
Above: Jackson, grade four. Right: Mason, grade four.